Food glorious food

Bub’s mealtime adventures are continuing to be enjoyable for us all.

He has always been pretty good at getting the food into his mouth, but for the first week or so it pretty much all fell back out again. But about four days ago he seems to have figured out what to do once the food is in there and he’s now swallowing.

Now he’s six months we’ve broadened the offerings beyond fruit and veg. We do two ‘meals’ a day, though sometimes that may only be some fruit.

So far he’s enjoyed orange, tomato, steamed carrot, banana, steamed broccoli, plum, pear, apple (sucking on a whole one), yellow pepper, pasta, omelette with cheese, cheese on toast, lemon (yes, really), veg/lentil baby food jar on toast and loaded spoons, melon, roasted parsnip, potato, raspberries, strawberries, rice cake… It seems like every day it’s something new and so far it’s all being gobbled up happily.

We’ve not had any foods yet he doesn’t seem to like. Some early foods like broccoli weren’t brilliantly received, but that may just be down to the newness of it all. At the moment everything seems to be welcomed with both hands and shovelled in. Plums (shared with daddy) seem to be the biggest hit.

It’s also not proving too messy – yet! I think this is partly because we do most meals on the sofa with him on my knee. I can intercept most mess before it goes too far. I also think it may be down to him not yet having discovered how much fun mess can be. I don’t think he realises that he can drop, smear or fling his food. And long may that continue!

In the early days we had a fair bit of gagging but this seems to have tailed off now thank goodness. His first taste of banana, a weaning classic, was the worst and resulted in quite a lot of vomit and a bit of a scare for me. Knowing it’s normal doesn’t make much easier – your heart is still in your mouth!

All in all though, a big thumbs up from our first few weeks. Sharing a bit plate of cheese on toast, pasta salad or omelette with your six month old, all eating the same, is a lovely, lovely moment.

Tags: baby food, baby led weaning, blw, eating as a family, feeding baby, first foods, plum, sharing food